“We are not prepared to accept the Iranian military entrenchment in Syria which is directed against us,” the Israeli leader emphasized. “We will act against it vigorously and continuously, including during the current period.”

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot called the US move a “significant event,” but noted there was “no need to overstate it.”

On Friday, a US military spokesperson confirmed the drawdown of the American force — consisting of more than 2,000 soldiers who had been working in northeastern Syria with an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias in areas once held by ISIS — had begun.